SUPERHUMAN RESILIENCE
Indecisive? Ineffective? A Maybot? No, says the politician who knows her best, Theresa has shown...
MY EMAIL inbox pinged at one minute past nine on Friday night with a letter from the Prime Minister explaining the deal the Cabinet had reached. Every Conservative MP had this, and some may even have been surprised that she had pulled off what many commentators had decided was impossible.
This shows how little Theresa May is understood, even after years in the public spotlight. Contrary to some of the hostile comment, she is not indecisive or incapable of taking difficult decisions. Rather, she is determined to reach a conclusion on the basis of evidence, and if it takes time for the evidence to be produced – so be it.
On top of this cautious method of working, she invites criticism because she does not play the Westminster game. No lunches, no gossip, no sense that journalists and politicians can be friends. As a result she has never had a coterie of commentators who will boost her in difficult times.
What she does have is a sense of what is right, and an almost superhuman resilience. If she decides that something needs to be done, she does it, regardless of the risks.
The events leading up to the Chequers meeting reminded me of the time she took on the Police Federation at their own conference. Both events were preceded by muttered threats that she had better play nicely or the boys would be out to get her.
There was in one case the implication that she would be booed and heckled from the floor of the conference, which would be humiliating for a Home Secretary.
Last week, the papers were full of talk of Cabinet walk-outs, which would lead to her downfall.
Both times, she didn’t blink. She told the Federation exactly what she thought of them and why they needed to change. She was heard in stunned silence, and over the following years the necessary changes duly happened. Equally, she presented the Cabinet with a draft White Paper which reflected exactly the conclusions she had reached after long consideration, and invited them to sign up or sign out. They have all signed up.
This is the reality of Theresa May as a political leader, not the ridiculous caricature of the Maybot unable to react to circumstances. She is cautious, but she is not indecisive.
She is much more concerned with the substance of a big decision than the process needed to reach it.
She is genuinely uncomprehending of those whose main concern with the whole Brexit process is the parliamentary procedures that surround it.
She is also prepared – literally – to look people in the eye and dare them to make good on the threats that they were murmuring about behind her back, which in modern politics means through an anonymous ‘briefing’. This was rubbed in to any would-be Cabinet rebel in a number of ways.
First there was the stark warning from No10 than anyone resigning at Chequers would be free to order a minicab back to London as their ministerial car would have disappeared. The second was making sure that no Minister had a mobile phone all day.
Of course mobile phones are always kept out of the room during Cabinet meetings, for security reasons. But to keep a politician from his or her mobile for a whole day is a use of power which almost amounts to torture.
The third and most significant was a line in that email to MPs which was put in bold type in case anyone missed its significance: ‘As we have developed our policy on Brexit I have allowed Cabinet colleagues to express their individual views. ‘Agreement on this proposal marks the point where that is no longer the case and collective responsibility is now fully restored.’
This is straightforwardly saying: ‘Come and have a go if you think you’re hard enough.’ It means that the next time you read that a particular Minister has grave doubts about the Brexit policy and would prefer a different approach, you can expect a sacking to follow. This may require a significant change in the working practices of certain Ministers.
Inevitably in the period since the meeting we are already hearing versions of who said what and when in the course of the day. I have read that Michael Gove was the key Brexiteer voice which swung opinion behind the Prime Minister. Good for him, if so.
Even more important is that all those who supported Brexit in the Referendum and who want to remain in the Cabinet must now be committed in the long run to the Government policy.
There is still a tough negotiation to be done with the EU. Everyone in the Cabinet in the coming months needs to be publicly and privately in tune with the negotiating stance of the Government, or the European Commission will use the divisions to weaken Britain’s position.
The Prime Minister has overcome one hurdle by producing a united position. But the biggest hurdle, the actual deal, still lies ahead.
Theresa May is normally at her best when she is at her boldest. Not always (I haven’t forgotten the bold decision to hold a snap Election in 2017), but much more often than not. From telling the Tory Party as party chairman that many people thought it was the Nasty Party, through making a Conservative
She does what has to be done, regardless of risk Once settled on a policy, she sees it through
Government take the issue of modern slavery seriously, to devising a Brexit policy which will preserve our economic interests while coming out of the political structures of the EU, she has been bold.
The next set of people who she will need to face up to with firmness are the EU government leaders. They should be in no doubt of her character after this weekend.
One of the striking things about last week was how calm she was in the lead-up to the Chequers meeting. Once she had taken the important decisions, and settled on a policy, she was determined to see it through. And yet again, despite the chorus of scepticism that surrounded her, she has.